The Good
* Have a Day, E.J. So we got Good E.J. Montgomery last night, and he was really good. E.J. sort of reminds you of Skal: he wants so badly to play like a guard, but he's having to learn you can't do that for John Calipari. So he'll sort of have these games where you can see he wants to mix it up, then he'll revert to Guard E.J. and things go haywire. Last night he got his nose in pretty much everything, and if Kentucky wants to make any kind of noise in March we have to have that player.
* Three and Gone. What else can be said about Nick Richards at this point? The guy has turned himself into an honest-to-God All-American candidate. It's crazy to behold. I actually think he should be more of a focus in the offense. His touch is out of this world, and he's going to be a first round draft pick.
* The Stripe. Kentucky flat-out iced that game at the free throw line last night, with Richards and Quickley just draining shot after shot like they were messing around out in the back yard. I may or may not have mentioned this, but I personally shot free throws at Rupp recently. (It's a long story that involves my sister-in-law, a computer company, and an event said company hosted in Rupp while UK played South Carolina in Columbia.) Let me tell you: it ain't easy to stand out there and hit free throws, even in an empty arena. Kentucky was 31-36 (!) last night as a team, with Quickley shattering a UK record by going a cool 14-14 (!!). That's out of this world solid.
* Scheme o' Glory. Reggie Perry came in as the frontrunner for the SEC POY award. He left Rupp looking dazed and confused over there, his eyes fixed on the middle distance as if he were contemplating his life decisions. The really good Calipari teams are all tough. They fight. They rebound. They scrap. This team has struggled in those facets of the game off and on this year, and last night they got some licks in. That has to be the way they play if they have any chance at a March run.
* Comeback Kids. The Cats absolutely had to win that game last night after the meltdown at Auburn. Had to. They got it done.
The Bad
* Stumblin' to the Finish Line. Outside the free throws, the Cats played that last 4:00 about as bad as possible. Defensively they looked like they were basically letting the Dogs score, while offensively they were in the mode of killing 3/4 of the shot clock before attacking. I still don't like Cal's penchant for trying to bleed the game out when he has any semblance of a late lead, but it nets a W more often than not.
* Between the Pipes. First we had "violent cuts." Then we had "drive the nail." Then it was the country song. Now it's "between the pipes," Jimmy Dykes' newest catchphrase. I love how goofy Jimmy is, but the phrases he comes up with are strange and disturbing.
* The Bunch That Could Blow Nobody Out. Kentucky has a maddening thing where they get a 12 or 14 point lead, and instead of pushing it out to 20, it usually shrinks to 6 and then it's a game. That happened again last night, and one of the main reasons for that is...
* Shot Maulers. Kentucky was a grisly 1-10 from the three-point line. It's really hard to blow people out in this game when you can't hit that three-pointer. Quickley had a really nice game, but was 1-6 from three. Each three he took could have kicked the door down and made what was a solid lead pretty much insurmountable. He missed every one. There are myriad reasons why this UK team has to fight with teams to put them away, but the shooting issues are front and center.
The Ugly
* Point of Regression. Ashton Hagans had another subpar game last night, and that's being polite. I think he's overthinking stuff right now, and when your point guard is in think mode rather than react mode he'll not be effective.
* Short Bench. Kentucky's bench situation is suddenly a little fugly, what with the Dragon gone off to Westeros and Juzang and Brooks being wildcards. Speaking of Juzang and Brooks: both hardly registered in that one last night, and while that was partly because of E.J. playing well, it is a little concerning when you only have six capable players, and the sixth man is only effective some of the time. There's a reason why after the game there was talk of Dontaie Allen playing. This team is an injury away from being in a real mess, and it looked for a moment like Sestina may have suffered an injury last night. (Turned out to be a false alarm, thankfully.)
* The Screamer. Cal screamed at people for 40 minutes last night. The refs, the players, anybody in his vicinity. I guess he thought he needed to just stand over there and yell like a madman (it culminated in a really bad technical foul in the last couple of minutes that thankfully didn't hurt us), but at some point it'd be nice if he'd chill just a tad. I mean, I get it in some ways. I can yell at the TV pretty good in my living room. But you wonder sometimes if he's not interfering with the action on the floor rather than facilitating it. I just don't understand 40 minutes of constant wailing from the coach. At some point you might need to chill and let them figure a couple of things out.
* Have a Day, E.J. So we got Good E.J. Montgomery last night, and he was really good. E.J. sort of reminds you of Skal: he wants so badly to play like a guard, but he's having to learn you can't do that for John Calipari. So he'll sort of have these games where you can see he wants to mix it up, then he'll revert to Guard E.J. and things go haywire. Last night he got his nose in pretty much everything, and if Kentucky wants to make any kind of noise in March we have to have that player.
* Three and Gone. What else can be said about Nick Richards at this point? The guy has turned himself into an honest-to-God All-American candidate. It's crazy to behold. I actually think he should be more of a focus in the offense. His touch is out of this world, and he's going to be a first round draft pick.
* The Stripe. Kentucky flat-out iced that game at the free throw line last night, with Richards and Quickley just draining shot after shot like they were messing around out in the back yard. I may or may not have mentioned this, but I personally shot free throws at Rupp recently. (It's a long story that involves my sister-in-law, a computer company, and an event said company hosted in Rupp while UK played South Carolina in Columbia.) Let me tell you: it ain't easy to stand out there and hit free throws, even in an empty arena. Kentucky was 31-36 (!) last night as a team, with Quickley shattering a UK record by going a cool 14-14 (!!). That's out of this world solid.
* Scheme o' Glory. Reggie Perry came in as the frontrunner for the SEC POY award. He left Rupp looking dazed and confused over there, his eyes fixed on the middle distance as if he were contemplating his life decisions. The really good Calipari teams are all tough. They fight. They rebound. They scrap. This team has struggled in those facets of the game off and on this year, and last night they got some licks in. That has to be the way they play if they have any chance at a March run.
* Comeback Kids. The Cats absolutely had to win that game last night after the meltdown at Auburn. Had to. They got it done.
The Bad
* Stumblin' to the Finish Line. Outside the free throws, the Cats played that last 4:00 about as bad as possible. Defensively they looked like they were basically letting the Dogs score, while offensively they were in the mode of killing 3/4 of the shot clock before attacking. I still don't like Cal's penchant for trying to bleed the game out when he has any semblance of a late lead, but it nets a W more often than not.
* Between the Pipes. First we had "violent cuts." Then we had "drive the nail." Then it was the country song. Now it's "between the pipes," Jimmy Dykes' newest catchphrase. I love how goofy Jimmy is, but the phrases he comes up with are strange and disturbing.
* The Bunch That Could Blow Nobody Out. Kentucky has a maddening thing where they get a 12 or 14 point lead, and instead of pushing it out to 20, it usually shrinks to 6 and then it's a game. That happened again last night, and one of the main reasons for that is...
* Shot Maulers. Kentucky was a grisly 1-10 from the three-point line. It's really hard to blow people out in this game when you can't hit that three-pointer. Quickley had a really nice game, but was 1-6 from three. Each three he took could have kicked the door down and made what was a solid lead pretty much insurmountable. He missed every one. There are myriad reasons why this UK team has to fight with teams to put them away, but the shooting issues are front and center.
The Ugly
* Point of Regression. Ashton Hagans had another subpar game last night, and that's being polite. I think he's overthinking stuff right now, and when your point guard is in think mode rather than react mode he'll not be effective.
* Short Bench. Kentucky's bench situation is suddenly a little fugly, what with the Dragon gone off to Westeros and Juzang and Brooks being wildcards. Speaking of Juzang and Brooks: both hardly registered in that one last night, and while that was partly because of E.J. playing well, it is a little concerning when you only have six capable players, and the sixth man is only effective some of the time. There's a reason why after the game there was talk of Dontaie Allen playing. This team is an injury away from being in a real mess, and it looked for a moment like Sestina may have suffered an injury last night. (Turned out to be a false alarm, thankfully.)
* The Screamer. Cal screamed at people for 40 minutes last night. The refs, the players, anybody in his vicinity. I guess he thought he needed to just stand over there and yell like a madman (it culminated in a really bad technical foul in the last couple of minutes that thankfully didn't hurt us), but at some point it'd be nice if he'd chill just a tad. I mean, I get it in some ways. I can yell at the TV pretty good in my living room. But you wonder sometimes if he's not interfering with the action on the floor rather than facilitating it. I just don't understand 40 minutes of constant wailing from the coach. At some point you might need to chill and let them figure a couple of things out.
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